An Audience of 3 Million

Well, it’s been a few days since I last had a chance to update the blog. And let me tell you, a lot has happened in the past three days.
On Saturday we spent the day taking a rest from our busy schedule. Our host, Jean Baptiste, took us to see the Congo Rover. Apparently it’s the second largest river in the world. At the river, he shared with us the story of his life and how he came to know God. This man is incredible. His story is incredible. My favourite part being that he high jacked a plane just to leave the country to get to seminary. Haha. We are so blessed to have him with us every day.
On Sunday, we attended our first church service here in Kinshasa. Church is LONG here, but awesome. At one point, we were all dancing in the aisles and at the front of the church. There is so much joy here.
Yesterday we had the opportunity to speak on the radio here in Kinshasa. 3 million people were said to be listening to us as we spoke. It was awesome! We were asked to introduce ourselves and share why we are here this summer. They asked if we could send messages of hope and encouragement to the people of the Congo. We also sang a song. Haha. That’s right, we’re like pop stars in the Congo now. No big deal. We get the chance to appear on television next Friday for an hour in front of 5 million people. EEK!
Speaking of TV, (I was going to save this for the random points of interest section in the blog, but it’s fitting now) I got another call back from WIPEOUT CANADA!!! I’m in the process of signing my release forms and basically a death waiver. Haha. Pray I’ll be able to find a place to print and fax this to the producers so I can be on Wipeout in October! Watch out world, I’m making my television debut!! I’m WAY over due.
Today was ... insane. I again, don’t know if I have words to fully describe to you all what we are experiencing. We have begun partnering with another orphanage in Kinshasa called Bomoi Ya Sika. It’s in the poorest area of the city that we have seen so far. There are 30 children in the orphanage but only 11 are able to stay the night due to lack of facilities. These kids are incredible, and it breaks my heart to see and hear of the thousands of children in Kinshasa who do not have parents and live on the street. We are here all week! We also spent some time this afternoon visiting a hospital that we will be working with later in the month. It was about a 20 minute walk from the orphanage. Crowds of children filled the streets as we walked through. They were screaming “MUNDELE!! MUNDELE!!!” and doing anything they could just to grab a hold of our hands. The smiles on their faces were bigger than anything I’ve ever seen. I think it’s safe to assume that very few white people walk through these areas of Kinshasa. I got some sweet video footage of this, and I’m hoping to post it! You’ll all love these kids!
We also spent time today visiting a church that will have us working with them every night this week. We are partnering with a church called Batela, and this church is a church plant OF Batela. Make sense? Again, crowds of children filled the streets.
I feel like I should try to describe to you all what Kinshasa is really like. It’s not the “Africa” I imagined at all. I always imaged Africa as hot, filled with grass huts and goats, while people jumped up and down with beads around their necks chanting sweet nothings while rocking out on a rhino skin drum while giraffes roam the background and Mufassa holds up Simba and Jeff probst is stuffing out someone’s torch... K, too far. This is Kinshasa. It’s hot, muggy, full of garbage and it’s total chaos all the time. Kinshasa is a city of 7 million people that spreads farther than the eyes can see. Garbage fills the streets. People push you into taxi’s. 20 people fit into one van taxi! People are always yelling, there are no rules on the road, and the sun sets at 6pm every night. Night time Kinshasa is not a fun place to be.
The funny thing is though; we are all already used to this. This is normal for us. It’s normal to see men with AK47’s strapped around their bodies. It’s normal to walk through markets and not be scared. It’s normal to be amongst all this chaos and accept that this is 100% different than anything we know. I love it because not only is it normal, I think we all like it. It’s like an adrenaline rush everyday! The people are very welcoming and getting accustomed to the culture has been such an incredible experience.
Random fact: We have to burn our used toilet paper in the backyard. You can’t flush it. You store it in a bin beside the toilet and when it’s full, we have a pow wow in the backyard. How can this sound more fun you ask? Well it’s really quite the treat when you have to throw up in the morning because your malaria pills won’t stay down. Hovered over the toilet, the smell of the poo bin really gets things started.
If one thing is sure, it is that God is working in this city. I have met some of the most incredible people here who serve God the way the bible tells us to. I feel like I’m learning more than I am helping others. We have a very busy week in front of us. Pray for health and safety for our team. Pray for the children of Bomoi Ya Sika and the people who pour their lives into this ministry. I will try and post again in a few days!!!
To all our families and friends, we love you!
Team Congo